Host of the NBA All-Star Game for the first time in 30 years, the 2023 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, UT saw history made from start to finish.
The history making got underway on Friday
night at the NBA Jordan Rising Stars, which was won by Team Pau Gasol led by
the game’s MVP in reserve guard of the New Orleans Pelicans Jose Alvarado.
Alvarado hit the game-winning right-wing
three-pointer to decide the Jordan Rising Stars title over Team Joakim Noah for
the 25-20 victory, which he called that he would do as NBA on TNT’s Stephanie
Ready pointed out during the postgame interview as Alvarado was being award the
game’s MVP trophy.
“The confidence these boys behind me gave
and you know, they were rolling with me the whole game, you know,” Alvarado
said to Ready. “They were rolling with me the whole game. Just come out here
and play, and enjoy this atmosphere, you know. We’re at here at All-Star
weekend and we’re enjoying it. So, I can’t complain.”
Team Pau reached the championship game by
taking down Team Deron Williams in Semifinals 40-25, where Alvarado led the way
with 13 points on 6/10 shooting.
“Amazing,” Alvarado said to NBA on TNT’s
Adam Lefkoe, Candace Parker, and Jamal Crawford during the “NBA on TNT’s Postgame.”
“You know, you say stuff and you want to go for stuff but you just want to have
fun with the game. I really wasn’t chasing it. It just came to me and my
teammates did a lovely job with me. It was just a great put together and it came
out falling in my lap.”
The person that Alvarado told that he
would hit the game-winning triple was All-Star guard for the Cleveland
Cavaliers Donovan Mitchell, who was sitting courtside at the game at Vivint
Arena. By hitting that shot as a bet, Alvarado said to Ready that “D-Mitch owes”
him dinner.
“That’s just confidence and the work that
you put in,” Alvarado said of that moment. “This is the environment that you always
live for, you know, when you’re a kid. So, I knew when if I touched the ball, I
got it, you know. And if just something that, it felt good. I felt it the whole
time.”
Atlanta Hawks All-Star guard Trae Young
tweeted @TheTraeYoung about that moment, “Hahaha GRAND THEFT!! That’s [fire
emojis]! You gotta love that. Give him MVP!”
The historic moment was not just the fact
that Alvarado hit the game-winner as mentioned, he wore a wireless microphone
during the game and carried a conversation with Lefkoe, Parker, and Crawford during
the semifinal contest versus Team Deron.
“It was good,” Alvarado said of the moment and added. “But that’s just me though. I’m going to talk with guy. Sometimes I talk too much, you know. But that’s just my game and I’m glad to be the first person and I hope it went well.”
The game and what unfolded introduced
Alvarado to the nation. He was a star amongst first and second-year players who
were drafted high in the NBA draft over the last two seasons and who are headliners
on their respective squads like No. 1 overall pick of the 2022 NBA Draft Paolo
Banchero of the Orlando Magic and his teammate in second-year guard and forward
Franz Wagner. Cavaliers second-year sensation Evan Mobley. Sacramento Kings’
rookie forward Keegan Murray to name a few.
Alvarado, who played at Georgia Tech
(2017-21) went undrafted after winning ACC Defensive Player of the Year and making
Second-Team All-ACC in 2021. In August 2021, he signed a two-way deal with the
Pelicans, splitting time with them and the NBA G League affiliate the Birmingham
Squadron.
On Jan. 25, 2022 during the Pelicans tilt
against the Philadelphia 76ers, Alvarado received a technical foul after
getting into a verbal exchange with six-time All-Star center Joel Embiid. The
incident got press coverage after Embiid praised Alvarado and paid the NBA his
$2,000 fine.”
Alvarado’s play off the bench earned him
praise from the Pelicans front office and on Mar. 28, 2022 converted his two-way
deal into a four-year, $6.5 million standard contract, which made him eligible to
make the 2022 postseason roster.
In the Pelicans First-Round tilt against
the No. 1 Western Conference seeded Phoenix Suns, Alvarado impacted the series
by consistently putting defensive pressure in the backcourt on 11-time All-Star
guard Chris Paul, which helped the Pelicans even the series after four games.
They ultimately fell to the Suns in six games.
Alvarado this season has continued to be a
sparkplug off the bench for the Pelicans. He scored a career-high 38 points in
the team’s 121-106 win over the current No. 1 Seed in the Western Conference in
the Denver Nuggets.
“It’s hard to put into words,” Alvarado
said about his dream of playing and succeeding in the NBA so far. “This is just
something that you can’t write. You could wish for.”
“I’m not 6’5.’’ I’m not athletic. I don’t
have the crazy wingspan. But I got heart you can’t measure. If you bring that and
be yourself at all times, I think a lot of things will just come your way.”
One person that Alvarado made an impression on not just during the Jordan Rising Star Game but during his time at Georgia Tech was perennial WNBA All-Star, two-time WNBA champion and Turner Sports analyst Candace Parker.
Parker said during NBA on TNT Postgame
show following the game that from how hard he plays, which is all out makes him
someone that “we are all rooting for Jose Alvarado.”
“And I think just watching him and the type
of teammate he is on the Pelicans but to see it carry over here at NBA
All-Star, you want to play with a guy like that.”
Jamal Crawford, a three-time Kia Sixth Man
of the Year added the spirt and passion that Alvarado plays in a lot of basketball
courts and gymnasiums around the U.S. and possibly the world.
“So, when he’s out here on the biggest
stage, he’s representing all of them,” Crawford added. “He’s playing with so
much passion like he would give anything to be in the NBA and he’s taking
advantage of an opportunity. You love to see it and that’s why we all root for
him.”
What also made this moment special for Alvarado
was that he got to share this moment with his daughter holding the MVP trophy.
Alvarado said to Lefkoe, Parker, and
Crawford that his daughter and his family is the reason he reached the point he
has in his NBA.
“They’re the reason why I go. They’re the
reason why I even I have hope in my life,” he said. “So, having them here for
this special moment when they grow up with all this technology and pictures, I
can’t wait to show them and say their dad did something.”
Another so-called underdog who made a name
for himself on the NBA All-Star stage was 2023 NBA G League Rookie of the Year
and newest Philadelphia 76ers’ guard Mac McClung, who won the AT&T Slam
Dunk Competition during 2023 NBA All-Star Saturday Night.
Over the past few seasons, the Slam Dunk
contest has been underwhelming unlike years past compared to what it was in the
late 1980s specifically when Hall of Famers Michael Jordan (1987, 1988) and
Dominique Wilkins, both two-time winners of this event were going dunk-for-dunk.
Then we had just a few years ago when now Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon
and now Chicago Bulls All-Star guard Zach LaVine were going dunk-for-dunk in
the Slam Dunk competition a couple of seasons back.
Last Saturday night, McClung whose NBA
career consisted of just two games with the Lakers and Bulls a season ago put
on a show with his dunks as he defeated the Pelicans Trey Murphy III in the
finals of the competition, while taking down second-year center Jericho Sims of
the New York Knicks, and Kenyon Martin, Jr. of the Houston Rockets in the preliminary
round.
McClung who came to fame as dunker from
his highlight reels shown on YouTube from his high school days at Gate City
High School in Gate City, VA produced perfect scores of 50 on three of his four
dunks. One of those perfect scores came on his first dunk where he threw it
down over two friends while tapping the backboard along the way.
He also registered a 50 on his final dunk
which was a 360-degree reverse dunk in his Gate City High jersey.
After that final dunk, McClung was greeted
by some of the NBA’s top players in Utah Jazz starting guard Collin Sexton, Boston
Celtics’ forward Grant Williams, All-Star center from Miami Heat Bam Adebayo,
New Orleans Pelicans starting guard CJ McCollum.
McClung also earned props from future Hall
of Famer, three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade, who is now a member of the
governorship group of Jazz.
McClung even had the star of the upcoming “Creed
III” Jonathan Majors jaw drop and was caught saying “WOW!” twice on camera.
“IT IS OVER LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IT IS
OVER LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” were the words of NBA on TNT’s Kenny Smith, a
two-time NBA champion in the 1990s with the Rockets after McClung’s final dunk.
“It is a wrap. It is a wrap.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed a
star being born tonight. A star has been born tonight. An NBA has been born
tonight. His name will be realm throughout the country for 48 hours.”
Hall of Famer and three-time All-Star in
18 seasons with the Indiana Pacers said that McClung’s performance “saved the
dunk contest.”
Not only did McClung get a standing ovation
from the NBA on TNT crew of Miller, Smith, All-Star forward of reigning NBA
champion Golden State Warriors Draymond, Green, and Kevin Harlan, the judges of
the contest in two-time Slam Dunk champs (1985-1990) in nine-time All-Star in
Wilkins and fellow two-time Slam Dunk winner in Harold Miner, who won when the
contest was last in Utah in 1993. WNBA legend, champion, eight-time All-Star
and fellow Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie. Fellow Hall of Famer and legend of the
Utah Jazz Karl Malone, who was a 14-time All-Star selections and Crawford gave
him and standing ovation.
The ironic part of this experience for
McClung was the fact that he received the Dunk Contest championship trophy from
Hall of Famer, NBA champion and 76ers legend Julius “Dr. J.” Erving, who won
the first NBA Dunk Contest in 1976.
“It’s great man,” McClung said to Lefkoe
about winning the Dunk contest and love he received by current and former NBA
players for his performance. “I’m truly blessed and grateful for the NBA for
giving me this opportunity. I think the biggest thing is manifestation, you
know. I don’t get surprised by things like this. But I’m very appreciative.”
Back at the 2021 NBA Combine in preparing for that year’s draft, McClung recorded a 43 ½-inch vertical leap. He earned as mentioned 2021-22 NBA G League Rookie of the Year behind averages of 19.1 points and 4,7 assists on 50 percent from three-point range.
On Saturday night, he etched his name alongside
former Slam Dunk in aforementioned LaVine (won twice 2015 and 2016), Bulls Derrick
Jones, Jr. (2020), Celtics Blake Griffin (2008), Nate Robinson (2006), Jason
Richardson (twice: 2002, 2003), current ESPN NBA analyst Vince Carter (2000),
the late great Hall of Famer and five-time NBA champion with Lakers Kobe Bryant
(1997), Cedric Ceballos (1992), Dee Brown (1991), Kenny Walker (1989), Anthony “Spud”
Webb (1986), and the first winner of this event Larry Nance, Sr. (1984).
In his postgame presser with the media
after the contest, McClung when asked who were some of his dunk idols and some
of his favorite NBA dunks contest growing up said that he “loved” Carter and the
dunk duels between LaVine and Gordon was something that he “enjoyed” a great
deal and that if he were to be a part of this one day that he wanted to have
the same impact they did.
“I think just getting that first dunk down
lifted a lot of the pressure off and I heard the crowd kind of for me. That
kind of gave me a lot of confidence,” McClung said about how he was able to
perform.
It is one thing to have a moment like this
and deliver. It’s another thing to try and do it again. When Lefkoe asked
McClung if would make a commitment to participating in the Dunk Contest in
2024, McClung said, “I got you. If you guys will have me, I’ll be back.”
The history making concluded with the main
event of 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend with the 72nd NBA All-Star Game
With Team LeBron, playing for charity for “Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah”
versus Team Giannis, who played for “Raise the Future.”
The festivities began with the first NBA
All-Star Live Draft before the game where 19-time All-Star LeBron James and six-time
All-Star of the Milwaukee Bucks in two-time Kia MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo picked
their squads amongst the reserves first and the starters in a pickup at the
park format.
That was followed by the call of the game
on TNT With Brian Anderson, Reggie Miller, and Candace Parker, who made history
as the first woman to call the NBA’s unofficial midseason classic.
Miller before the broadcast said that he
woke up to greatness each morning growing up across the hall from his older
sister and fellow Hall of Famer and former Turner Sports analyst and sideline
reporter Cheryl Miller, the first to woman to call an NBA game for the network
back in 1996-97 season.
“And I’m sitting next to that same
greatness right here. Congratulations to you Candace,” Miller said at the top
of the broadcast.
In response, Parker said that she was “humbled”
and understood that there have been so many other women that have come before
her that laid the “foundation” and “ground” for this moment like Ready, Lesley
Visser, Nancy Lieberman, and Hannah Storm.
“I just say thank you and I promise to do
my part. But also, representation and opportunity matters,” Parker, who will be
continuing her WNBA career this summer of the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas
Aces added.
On a stage with a plethora of star
players, one All-Star stood out on Sunday night and that was Jayson Tatum, who at
age 23 became the youngest player in the storied 76-year history of the 17-time
NBA champions to earn four All-Star selections.
“I’m just excited,” Tatum said before the
game with TNT’s Dennis Scott about his fourth All-Star appearance. “Never take
this for granted being an All-Star. Something that I’ve dreamed about since I
was a kid.”
“It’s always fun being out here with the
crowd and my family and some of the best players in the world.”
On this night that featured six first time
All-Stars in Anthony Edwards, the No. 1 overall pick in 2020 by the Minnesota
Timberwolves out of the University of Georgia; De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento
Kings; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from the Oklahoma City Thunder,; Tyrese
Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers; Jaren Jackson, Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies
and Lauri Markkanen of the Jazz, Tatum who is No. 6 in the league in scoring
through the unofficial first part of the 2022-23 NBA campaign with eight
40-plus point games registered scored an All-Star Game record 55 points on a
night with nine rebounds and six assists on 22/31 shooting, including 20/18
from three point range in in leading Team Giannis to 184-175 win over Team
LeBron, thanks to the game-clinching three-pointer by seven-time All-Star lead
guard Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, who became the first player
in his team’s history to capture the Starry Three-Point Contest on Saturday
night.
Tatum earned the Kobe Bryant Award for
All-Star Game MVP. He scored an All-Star Game record with 27 of those 55 points
in the third quarter, surpassing the previous mark of 52 points set by current
Lakers big man Anthony Davis in the 2017 All-Star Game.
“It means the world,” Tatum said to
Johnson after the MVP trophy presentation about become record holder for points
in NBA All-Star Game, “You think of all the legends and great players that’s
played in this game and in all honesty, records are made to be broken. So, I’ll
hold it for as long as I can. But I’m certain somebody will come along in a couple
of years and try to break it.”
Tatum is the first Celtic to win All-Star
Game MVP since Hall of Famer and three-time NBA champion in the 1980s Larry
Bird in 1982. He also the first player in NBA history to register a 50-point
game in the regular season (five times), the postseason, and All-Star Game.
When asked by ESPN’s Malika Andrews after the
game when he knew that he was going to have a record setting night, Tatum said
that “he really didn’t know.”
“Someway midway through the fourth quarter
Dame [Damian Lillard of Portland Trail Blazers] was like, ‘Yo the record was
52.’ I had 49 and then I was like it kind of hit me like breaking history in the
moment is a cool thing
Tatum had his history making night that he
debut his signature “The Tatum 1” from Jordan Brand.
Tatum’s new signature shoe as he told NBA
on TNT’s Chris Haynes comes in four styles in four different colorways stems
from things that stem from things that the Celtics four-time All-Star has lived
and cares about.
The pink format stems from his love for
pink lemonade, the drink that he orders every time he goes out to dinner.
The second colorway is the stripes scheme
that represents the barbershop. The third colorway represents Tatum’s hometown
of St. Louis, MS, which also produced All-Star guard of the Washington Wizards
Bradley Beal. The fourth colorway of black and red for “Welcome to the Zoo,” that
reflects Tatum’s relationship with his son Deuce’s love for animals.
“So, just little things that are, you
know, super organic to me,” Tatum told Haynes about the inspirations for his
signature shoe.
Tatum also said that he challenged the Jordan
Brand team to create a kid’s specific design for his shoe because he told Haynes
that idea came from the idea that kids are the future of our nation and that he
wanted to take this moment to create something that can “inspire” the youth.
“I want them to feel a sense of
connectivity to me right,” Tatum said. “When I was younger and I put on my
favorite player Kobe Bryant. When I put on his shoes, whether I was six or 16,
I felt like in that moment or in that game that we were on in the same. And
that inspired me. That inspired me to get to the level I am today.”
Team LeBron earned $200,000 for Big
Brothers, Big Sisters of Utah, while Team Giannis wining the final three
quarters earning $550,000 for “Raise The Future.”
The 2023 All-Star Weekend saw history
being made. The Jordan Rising Stars Game introduced us to the first MVP of that
contest that went undrafted in Jose Alvarado of the New Orleans Pelicans. On All-Star
Saturday night, we saw NBA G Leaguer in Mac McClung show out and win the
AT&T Slam Dunk Contest joining the likes of Michael Jordan, Dominique
Wilkins, Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls, Aaron Gordon of the Denver Nuggets,
and Anthony “Spud” Webb. On Sunday at the 72nd Annual NBA All-Star
Game, Jayson Tatum one of the league’s current stars and who will carry the torch
in years to come became the first Celtic since Larry Bird in the 1980s to win
All-Star Game MVP while setting the scoring record in the game that was commented
on television by the first woman in Candace Parker.
The future of the NBA was on full display
during 2023 All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, UT both on the court and the
broadcast booth. What lies ahead remains to be scene. But if it continues to
resemble what we saw over the weekend, the game of basketball is going to grow even
more.
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